Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing the appointment of former Israeli Navy commander Eli Sharvit as the next chief of the Shin Bet, following pushback in the governing coalition as well as a public rebuke from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over Sharvit’s past comments criticizing President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu announced early Monday that Sharvit was his choice to head the internal security agency — pending a Supreme Court case relating to the prime minister’s firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

The following morning, the prime minister released a statement that he had told Sharvit that “after further consideration, he intends to consider other candidates.”

Within hours of Sharvit’s appointment being announced, Cabinet ministers and Likud Knesset members came out against Sharvit, because, after his retirement from the military, Sharvit had participated in protests against Netanyahu’s policies.

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu wrote in a post on X that “the main difficulty with Ronen Bar’s conduct is not the persona but the Kaplanist [anti-Netanyahu protester] worldview … Replacing a person with a Kaplanist worldview with another person with a similar worldview does not solve the problem but only perpetuates it.” 

Hours later, Graham provided Netanyahu’s base with another reason to oppose Sharvit: He once recently spoke out against Trump.

Sharvit published an op-ed in January lambasting the 47th president’s environmental policies as short-sighted and profit-driven rather than focused on addressing climate change. “We live in an era where the public demands more accountability from governments and corporations. Trump’s choice to ignore these demands sends a message to the world that the United States is shirking its global leadership,” Sharvit wrote in the Jan. 23 piece, published in Calcalist.

“American leadership on climate and the environment failed under the previous Trump administration, and now it is our responsibility to ensure that it does not fail again,” Sharvit continued.

Graham wrote on X on Monday morning that Israeli leaders should rethink Sharvit’s hiring, which he described as “beyond problematic” because of the former naval commander’s past criticism of Trump. 

“While it is undeniably true that America has no better friend than Israel, the appointment of Eli Sharvit to be the new leader of the Shin Bet is beyond problematic. There has never been a better supporter for the State of Israel than President Trump. The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his policies will create unnecessary stress at a critical time,” Graham said.

“My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting,” he continued.

Soon after, political analysts speculated on Israeli evening news that Graham was doing Netanyahu a favor that was likely coordinated, giving the prime minister a reason to reverse Sharvit’s appointment — because it may offend Trump — that would be more broadly accepted than doing so because of the former naval commander’s participation in protests against Netanyahu.

Responding to that chatter, the South Carolina senator wrote on X later Monday, “To my friends in the political punditry world in Israel: If you think the over the top criticism levied against President Trump’s energy policy by the Shin Bet nominee is no big deal, you have missed a lot.”

The post contained a screenshot from Sharvit’s Calcalist piece alleging Trump had “chosen to abandon critical net-zero emission targets for 2050 and focus on promoting polluting fuels, driven by a short-term conservative perspective aimed at maximizing immediate profits.”

“I believe that this policy is not just misguided but dangerous. Trump’s shortsightedness sends a shocking message of disregard for scientific reality, human well-being, and responsibility toward future generations. This approach is essentially a political version of ‘eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ – an attempt to evade global consequences by prioritizing the immediate interests of polluting fuel industries,” Sharvit wrote. 

Netanyahu fired Shin Bet chief Bar earlier this month, citing a lack of trust, while opposition figures accused the prime minister of pushing Bar out for political reasons. 

There have been several petitions to the Supreme Court against the firing, and the court plans to hold a hearing on April 8. In the meantime, the dismissal is frozen, but Netanyahu has still been allowed to interview potential successors to Bar. 

The prime minister said on Monday morning that he chose Sharvit out of seven candidates and that he was “convinced that Vice-Admiral Sharvit is the right person to lead the Shin Bet on a path that will continue the organization’s glorious legacy.”

This story was updated at 1:48 a.m. E.T.